Former Inmate Sentenced In Prison False Tax Return Scheme

TULSA, Okla. — United States Attorney Danny C. Williams Sr. announced today that Donald Lee Grayson, 61, of Tulsa, was sentenced in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma by U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan. 

Grayson was charged with three counts of filing false 2008 federal income tax refund claims in the names of three different fellow prison inmates.  As a trustee serving a state sentence at a Tulsa-area prison, he gained access to a laptop computer, and bank accounts in the names of the fellow inmates.  With that, Grayson was able to electronically file the false tax returns from his prison cell.  That also proved to be his undoing, for a guard noticed the power card of the computer which then led to a search of Grayson’s cell; ending the scheme.

The three false income tax returns were filed in late 2009 and claimed fraudulent refunds totaling $21,276, however, the IRS detected the falsity of one of the returns only paying $14,226 in false refunds. 

Grayson was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, per count with each sentence running concurrent with the others, three (3) years of supervised release to follow the prison term and restitution of $14,226.

The charges resulted from an investigation by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, which has emphasized enforcement in the area of false income tax refunds and identity theft.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charles M. McLoughlin.